I13L is one of Diamond’s long beamlines, dedicated to imaging and coherence related experiments.

The beamline is designed for hard X-ray imaging on the micro- and nano-length scale. High spatial resolution is achieved by imaging either in real space or by inverting (diffraction) data acquired in reciprocal space. For the latter the coherence properties of the beam are important. Therefore the experimental stations will be built at a long distance from the source, of about 250m. Two independent branches will be available: one for imaging in direct space, the other for coherence related experiments.

The range of scientific applications is very wide, covering such diverse areas as biomedicine, materials sciences, geo- or astrophysics.

The funding of the I13 project is supported by Manchester University. In exchange to their financial contribution they are granted beamtime mainly on the imaging branch.

The imaging branch

The imaging branch will perform In-line phase contrast imaging and tomography over a large field of view in the 6-30keV energy range. The spatial resolution for this technique is in the micron range. In addition it will be possible to switch the instrument to full-field microscopy with 50nm spatial resolution. Considering radiation sensitive samples, projection microscopy is dose efficient, taking full advantage of the properties of synchrotron radiation sources.

In-line phase contrast imaging will be available for the first users, supplemented at a later date with high-resolution microscopy.

The Coherence branch

Resolution beyond the limitations given by the detector and X-ray optics can be achieved with methods working in reciprocal space. For crystalline samples Coherent X-Ray Diffraction allows not only reconstructing the shape of nano-crystals but also provides 3D information about parameters such as the internal stress.

Other Coherent Diffraction Imaging techniques are currently progressing that can be applied to cell structure imaging and other structures on the nano-lengthscale.